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CIRCULAR No

CIRCULAR No.54-TC/TCT OF AUGUST 16, 1997 GUIDING THE COLLECTION, PAYMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF FEES PAID BY VIETNAMESE RESIDING ABROAD UPON THEIR REPATRIATION TO VIETNAM

Pursuant to Articles 7, 8 and 9 of Decision No.875-TTg of November 21, 1996 of the Prime Minister allowing Vietnamese residing abroad (overseas Vietnamese for short) to repatriate to the country;

Pursuant to Decision No.276-CT of July 28, 1992 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (now the Prime Minister) on the management of charges and fees;

The Ministry of Finance hereby provides the following guidances on the collection, payment and management of fees paid by Vietnamese residing abroad who are permitted to repatriate to the country:

I. FEE PAYERS AND AMOUNTS TO BE COLLECTED:

1. Subject to fee payment are Vietnamese citizens residing abroad when permitted to repatriate to Vietnam, who shall have to pay fees (hereafter referred to as repatriation fees) under the provisions of this Circular, excluding cases stipulated in Point 2 of this Section.

2. Children under 16 who are listed together with a repatriate in the same repatriation application shall not have to pay repatriation fees.

The head of the agency issuing repatriation laissez passers (for repatriates who are staying abroad) or the head of the agency issuing letters of introduction for repatriates to register their permanent residence (for repatriates who have returned to Vietnam) shall consider and decide cases of exemption of repatriation fee as prescribed in this Point.

3. The fee to be collected from each repatriate for each time of repatriation is 100 USD (one hundred US dollars).

The repatriation fees paid in Vietnam shall be collected in "Vietnam dong", converted from foreign currencies at the official exchange rate announced by the State Bank of Vietnam at the time of collection; if a fee payer wants to pay fee in a foreign currency, he/she shall be allowed to pay it in US dollars at the amount prescribed in this Point.

The repatriation fees paid at Vietnamese diplomatic missions may be in US dollars or the currency of the host country to be converted at the exchange rate announced by the State bank or the competent commercial bank of that country at the time of fee payment.

II. ORGANIZING THE COLLECTION, PAYMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF FEES:

1. For repatriation fees collected in Vietnam:

a/ The police office of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government (where the repatriate resides) shall have to organize the collection of repatriation fees from overseas Vietnamese who have repatriated and are residing in Vietnam. The repatriation fee collecting agency shall have to:

- Register the collection of repatriation fees with the tax agency of the locality where its head office is located, open accounting books, issue receipts for the collection, payment and use of repatriation fees as prescribed by the Ministry of Finance.

- Organize the collection of repatriation fees before issuing letters of introduction (commonly referred to as permits) for repatriates to fill the procedures for permanent residence registration in accordance with the announcement of the Ministry of the Interior and organize the remittance of repatriation fees in accordance with the prescribed regime. When collecting fees the payment receipts issued by the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Taxation) and supplied by the Taxation Department of the province or city where the agency�s head office is located) must be issued to the fee payers.

- Annually settle the account of the collection, payment and use of fees as well as the use of fee-collecting vouchers (receipts) with the tax agency and submit the report thereof to the tax agency which directly manages it within 45 days from the last day of the year.

b/ Procedures for the remittance of repatriation fees to the State budget and their management:

- Once every month, the repatriation fee collecting agency shall declare to the tax agency of the locality where its head office is located, on the number of persons already granted with repatriation permits, cases of non-collection of fees and the amount of fees collected in the period.

The tax agency shall examine the declaration, make calculation and notify the fee collecting agency of the amount to be remitted to the State budget, which is equivalent to 90% of the fees collected in the period, the remittance time-limit and the corresponding chapter, category and clause, item 042 (sub-item 03), as prescribed in the State budget index.

Baasing itself on the tax agency�s notice, the fee collecting agency shall remit fully and promptly the fees to be remitted to the State budget (the fee collecting agency under the management of the central government shall remit the collected money to the central budget; and the fee collecting agency under the provincial/municipal management shall remit the money to the local budget).

The agency directly collecting repatriation fees shall be entitled to make a temporary deduction of 10% of the repatriation fees collected in the said period of time (including the amount of foreign currencies already converted into Vietnam Dong) in order to cover the expenses on organizing the collection of repatriation fees, including:

- The printing (or buying) of application and declaration forms, relevant dossier and the repatriation laissez passer.

- The payment of remuneration to the fee collectors who work off-hours (if any) after the State�s prescribed working hours in accordance with the State regulation.

The payment of remunerations to personnel for their overtime work must be made according to the extra time-recording, a list of recipients of off-hours remunerations as prescribed, affixed with signatures of the laborers. All expenses must be accompanied with proper and valid vouchers according to the provisions of the State.

The total amount of temporarily deducted fee (10%) mentioned in this point must be used by the fee collecting agency for the right purpose and the remainder after the final account settlement must be remitted to the State budget.

2. For repatriation fees collected in foreign countries:

The Vietnamese diplomatic missions shall organize the collection of repatriation fees from Vietnamese citizens residing abroad.

The repatriation fees shall be collected before the granting of repatriation permits under the notice of the Ministry of the Interior. When collecting fees, the fee payment receipts issued by the Ministry of Finance (the General Department of Taxation) and supplied by the Hanoi Taxation Department to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for the latter to transfer them to the Vietnamese diplomatic missions must be issued to fee payers.

100% of the collected repatriation fees must be remitted into the temporary deposit fund at the diplomatic missions. At the end of each quarter and each year, the diplomatic missions shall make a declaration and account settlement of the collection and remittance of the repatriation fees in the period with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

III. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION:

1. The tax offices shall have to fully supply receipts for the collection of fees to the fee collecting agencies, organize the inspection and urge those agencies to comply with the regulation on fee collection, management and use as well as the current regulation on accounting books and vouchers.

2. This Circular takes effect after its signing. The earlier provisions on repatriation fees which are contrary to the provisions of this Circular are now annulled.

In the course of implementation, if any problem arises, it must be promptly reported to the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for consideration and settlement.

For the Minister of Finance

Vice Minister

VU MONG GIAO